Hello all.

I'm seeking the advice of the informed and intelligent Forum members (although not Fender related)pertaining to pick ups.

I'm trying to get close to Neil Young's "Old Black" by modifying a Les Paul Studio '50s Tribute Humbucker, by changing the neck pick up to a Semour Duncan Phat Cat (trying to keep this affordable).

My question is, should I also change the bridge pu to a Seymour Duncan JB or is keeping the Gibson 498T the way to go? Is there a difference in sound and would one work better with the Phat Cat than the other?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

At first by the title of your thread, my first question was going to be

" Are You Old Enough....

Topic wise are you changing an old Les-Paul...?

If you are going for that Neil Young Sound, look at his amp selection..since that is 50% of the equation.
You might also just want to try changing Pots and caps first, rewiring your pups to achieve in or out of phase, in series or parallel and also see if you can isolate each coil from dual to single.

That failing I would pop in an entire pup and harness matched to each other and leave the original as it is..It's much easier to just unhook a couple leads than swap every thing out and rewire...
If you do a search there are plenty of rewiring tricks and specific sites just for what you are seeking...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Thanks.

Any opinion regarding the Seymour Duncan JB vs. the Gibson 498T in the bridge position?

The JB is upper midrange heavy vs. the 498T which is midrange dipped. I'd certainly go with the JB if you're looking to emulate that particular Neil Young tone.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

No offense to 44james intended here (and certainly none to Martian either) but I do find a small amount of amusement with the general public thinking that a pup swap is going to make a huge world of difference in achieving their tone. 44james, you are cetainly not the first person to look at a pup swap as a means to achieve a specific tone and I'm sure you won't be the last either. It just amuses me because out of all the factors in getting a particular tone, the pups are pretty far down on my list of importance-ratings. I know that pups are relatively cheap and that's gotta be the reason everyone wants to go that route but I think folks should know that amps, stomp boxes and hands are all WAY WAY ahead of pickups in terms of influencing your specific tone. Your hands are your hands and you will always sound like you regardless of what gear you use. The amp is what makes the sound you hear, not the guitar so changing the guitar first is akin to putting the plow before the horse. A stomp box will color the tone of any rig it is plugged into. Don't get me wrong I play with pickups too but not for the purpose of achieving a certain tone, only for tweaking the fine nuances of the tone that is essentially me. I don't sound differently by changing pickups to anyone else listening except me. I'm the only one who hears it because I always sound like me. They're my hands. They don't change. Amps and stomp boxes are the only way for me to achieve a fundamental change in my tone.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Tone-chasing is expensive.

If you have a "shallow-draft" wallet, you might want to consider a new hobby.



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I say that to every just-learning newbie who comes to me and asks what kind of guitar or amp to buy. I also do the same thing to people interested in becoming involved in dirt-biking. If you are squeamish about spending money you'd prolly better find another hobby because this is one a money magnet.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I could not resist this vid
thanks for posting the question though, I hadn't considered swapping P/U's in a Les Paul model by Gibson before, liked them the way that they sounded. When the JB aspect came up, well, let us know how that sounds and a pic or two

Wolfgang and friend: "Very interesting...."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQyUKnCf0YY&feature=colike

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Thanks Martian. Six responses and yours was the only direct answer to the specific question.

That's a good thing, not a bad thing. People need answers to their question but they also sometimes need to know why their question is not really the right question. You prefaced your question by stating the purpose of your question. Some of us addressed your question directly and some of us addressed your stated purpose. You should be thankful to those who looked beyond the surface, read between the lines and gave you good advise rather than implying they somehow wasted your time.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Any time. FWIW, I had presumed you considered the antecedent factors others have listed beyond pickups. I will say this too: Common sense dictates that no one is going to sound exactly like the player (s)he is trying to emulate (which I also gave you credit for considering). Not withstanding, I've witnessed many, many players getting well into the 'ballpark' of their target player with their own choice of equipment. It all goes back to what I've said several times before: Hand 20 players the identical guitar and amp, all on the identical settings and all 20 will sound different. This is a classic example of the door swinging both ways.

Once again, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

BMW-KTM. Beginning a sentence with "No offense" does not then give you the right to offend. It is not what you said, but the manner in which you said it. You presumed an awful from my very simple question, then presented your responses in a less than polite manner. If it appears I was ungrateful, that is why. You answered a question that wasn't asked, and did so rudely.

I gave a very brief description of my reason for the pick up change. I did that deliberately because I really didn't want to go back down a road I have already spent a fair bit of time exploring. I am aware of the elaborate things Neil Young does with his amps and gear in general.

You have suggested I asked the wrong question. I didn't. I asked the right question for my specific requirement. I have the opportunity to obtain a 50's Tribute Les Paul that resembles Old Black. I decided to look into setting it up like Old Black. I examined all the options and decided to simply set it up with a humbucker in the bridge and a P90 in the neck, at least at this time. I know it is not going reproduce Neil's tone. My question was just whether or not I should stay with the 498T in the bridge or switch to a Seymour Duncan SB...which would sound better with the Phat Cat. That's all.

Thanks to Martian, 53magnatone and others who offered considered and considerate responses.

How does a 50 trib Les Paul resemble Old Black. Im not asking to start any crap Im just askin. If you can post a pic

Hi.

The guitar is the Les Paul Studio '50s Tribute Humbucker (as opposed to the previously released P90 version. Here's a link:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... ucker.aspx

The resemblance to Old Black is really only superficial (it's a black Gibson Les Paul with a 50's rounded neck)

I was looking to purchase a new guitar and wanted something a little different to compliment what I already have (American Special Telecaster, Godin G1000 (HSS strat), PRS SE Hollowbody with two humbuckers. What is missing for me is a Les Paul.

My favourite Les Paul player is Neil Young so I set out to try to find something similar to Old Black, primarily something with a bridge humbucker and P90 neck. Couldn't find anything "off the shelf" other than a Gibson BFG (which I don't like) so I settled on the Les Paul Studio '50s Tribute Humbucker with a plan to change the neck pick up. My question was should I change the bridge pick up as well.

I love the 50's rounded neck...find it very comfortable, and it is available in black....bonus.

I'm not looking to add a Bigsby, a potentiometer and capacitor bypass switch, an aluminum pick guard, etc. I'm not trying to re-build Old Black. This is not a great tone chase, just a purchase with minor modification to give me a new guitar with some customization.